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Managers that don’t feature a true ace in their starting rotation are quick to explain you don’t really need one.

They will patiently tell you that once the season unfolds, with off-days, minor injuries and other adjustments, you can no longer tell where you are in the pitching order anyway.

Usually, those managers are not playing ball late in October.

There have been suggestions recently that left-hander Mark Buehrle should be considered the Blue Jays’ starting ace.

There are those that say because of the capricious nature of the knuckleball, R.A. Dickey should never be viewed as the ace of any rotation. That Dickey, who won the NL Cy Young Award two years ago with the New York Mets, should be viewed as a solid 2-3 starter, more like Max Scherzer of the Tigers to true ace Justin Verlander.

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The ace is always the one you build your playoff rotation around.

So that leaves the Jays with a problem. Despite his jackrabbit April start, Buehrle is not Verlander. If anyone argues Buehrle should be the Jays’ ace, then this team is not going anywhere. Since identifying your starting ace is only truly important in September-October, there is time for someone to step up and fill that role. Can it be Brandon Morrow, Drew Hutchison or Dustin McGowan?

Let’s examine the case against Buehrle. He was acquired at age 34 to be a solid No. 3-4 starter, to be an every-fifth-day workhorse, contribute 200-plus innings and 12-14 wins. It’s great to see him off to a solid first month, going 3-0 with a 0.86 ERA and a 0.90 WHIP in three starts against the Rays, Yankees and Astros.

He has three more April starts to come. Recall that last April, in his first season as a Blue Jay and considered the least important piece of the over-hyped trade with the Marlins, Buehrle was 1-1 with a 6.35 ERA and 1.518 WHIP in five starts.

He bounced back. In fact, he has won four games just once in March/April in his career, going 4-2, 3.93 ERA in six starts in 2002. Over the last four years, he has been 5-11 the first month out of the gate.

A fast April does not change his role. However, if Buehrle was to earn consideration as the best No. 3 starter in the AL, that should be good enough. But, even there, the competition is fierce with guys like Anibal Sanchez of the Tigers, Chris Archer of the Rays and Hiroki Kuroda of the Yankees.

Could Dickey contribute enough as one of the AL’s most solid No. 2s if the team was heading to a playoff round? No doubt, but not an ace. He is not the same type of ace other teams will counter with.

There should be an aura surrounding an ace. There needs to be a feeling of fear and trepidation when it comes to facing them. With Buehrle, there is neither.

You don’t need complicated statistical breakdowns of past performance to identify the list of current AL aces. Dominant in-the-moment stat results won’t always be there, as with Verlander last season and the Yankees’ CC Sabathia for much of the past two seasons. But when push comes to shove, those become the pitchers opponents focus on.

The current list of American League aces includes Verlander, Sabathia, David Price (Rays), Felix Hernandez (M’s), Yu Darvish (Rangers), Jered Weaver (Angels), Jon Lester (Red Sox), James Shields (Royals) and Chris Sale (White Sox). Sale may not have the post-season pedigree, but nobody wants to face him. He one-hit the Red Sox, with 10Ks to boot, on Thursday in a no-decision.

Yes, a starting ace can emerge on any team that doesn’t have one of those guys mentioned above over the course of 162 games and a couple of playoff rounds. You don’t need to trade for one. And yes, Buehrle was the White Sox ace in 2005 when they won the World Series. But that was nine years ago.

Jays manager John Gibbons and GM Alex Anthopoulos would obviously relish a playoff opportunity and would be willing to wait and see what develop with their staff as the season progresses.

Someone already on board will hopefully step up to be their ace, but in the meantime, it’s all 2s, 3s and 4s in Toronto’s rotation.

Buehrle gets the start on Saturday against the Indians in Cleveland with win No. 4 in his sights.

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